2 BULLETIN 336, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



been confined largely to winter wheat, oats, and barley, although 

 tests of several minor cereals, including winter rye, spelt, and emmer 

 also have been conducted. In addition, some investigations have 

 been conducted on the Arlington Farm with grain sorghum, buck- 

 wheat, proso, and spring varieties of wheat, oats, and barley. A pre- 

 liminary report covering a portion of the cooperative cereal investi- 

 gations at College Park was published in 1910. 1 In this bulletin a 

 complete presentation of the work at College Park and at Arlington 

 is made and such conclusions drawn as the results appear to warrant. 



CEREAL PRODUCTION IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 



The early history of the cultivation and production of cereal crops 

 in Maryland and Virginia is quite meager, but it is known that their 

 culture went hand in hand with the settlement of these colonies. In 



the report of the United 

 States Commissioner of Ag- 

 riculture for the year 1872, 2 

 the following statements are 

 made regarding the early 

 history of the culture of ce- 

 reals in the thirteen original 

 States: 



Wheat was first sown by Gos- 



wold on Cuttyhuhk, one of the 



Elizabeth Islands, in Buzzard's 



Bay, as early as 1602, when he first 



explored the coast. In Virginia 



the first wheat appears to have 



been sown in 1611, and its culture 



continued to increase there till, in 



1648, it is recorded that there 



were several hundred acres of it. But it soon after fell into great disrepute as a staple 



crop, as the culture of tobacco was found to pay a great deal better. For more than a 



hundred years after it was but little cultivated in that colony. 



But though the cultivation of wheat was begun almost simultaneously with the 

 settlement of the several colonies, it did not attract very great attention for more than 

 a century, Indian corn and, later, potatoes being relied upon for food to a much greater 

 extent. ... It is a matter of history that there never was a time in the eastern 

 colonies when it was a sure and reliable crop, unless it be so now with our improved 

 modes of culture and our better knowledge of the proper modes of tillage, deep plow- 

 ing, and thorough drainage. 



Rye and barley were also introduced and cultivated by the early settlers, and it 

 soon became the almost universal practice to mix the meal of the former with Indian 

 meal in the making of bread. It is known to have been the custom as early as 1648, 

 and probably it began at a considerably earlier date, perhaps aa early as 1630. Oats 

 were also introduced at the same time with rye. Capt. Goswold raised them with 

 other grains on one of the Elizabeth Islands, on the southern coast of Massachusetts^ 

 in 1602. Though much more extensively grown than rye, they appear to have been 

 used chiefly as food for animals. 



Fig. 1. — Sketch map showing the areas in the eastern United 

 States to which this bulletin applies. In the heavily 

 shaded portion the results are generally applicable. Cer- 

 tain of the results are applicable in some parts of the 

 lightly shaded portion, while other results are applicable 

 in other parts. 



i Schmitz, Nickolas. Wheat— variety tests and diseases. Md. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 147, p. 33-45. 1910. 

 * Fiiat, C. L-. A hundred years of progress. In U, S, Com,. Agr. Rpt., 1872, p. 280, 1874, 



